This is the first year that we decided to JUST buy for immediate family. DH and I might exchange a small gift and we are buying for the kids. We'll give crafts and pictures/cards to everyone else, and maybe some baked things, and some small gifts for games at a Christmas party.

I feel a little bad not buying for everyone, since EVERY one in our families exchange gifts. There are just simply too many people. We can't afford to buy something for everyone this year. I know there's no reason to really feel bad, but I also know everyone's going to be giving us gifts. And I feel guilty that we won't be giving anything.

Do you buy for just your immediate families? Or everyone? Or somewhere in between?

My parents
His father
My brother and his wife (and her parents if they are in town)
His brother, his wife, their 2 kids
His sister and her husband
His other sider, her husband and their 3 kids
My grandparents
My next door neighbors and their son
Our close friend's kids
My aunt
The 5 people in my department at work
5 teachers between my 3 kids
Bus driver and aide for DS's developmental preschool
DD's bus driver

We spend a fortune on Christmas

__________________

Kristen
Middle school teacher by day, super mom by night
Mommy to The Boss~2007, The Energizer Bunny~2009, and The Princess~2011
My kids are no longer in diapers, but somehow, my computer keeps finding its way back here...

We buy for a mix of people. On dh's side, we just give gifts to kids (a mutual decision by all... 8 kids), on my side we buy gifts for kids (11 kids) and then do a name draw (so two adults). I make a lot of presents for nieces and nephews and friends' kids. For some family friends, I'll make a movie night box (with a $5 family dvd and some homemade goodies and cocoa mix) or a family game (don't break the ice or something like that... I'll order on Black Friday so they are around $5 per so very reasonable) or buy $1 activity books from JoAnns for the kids and then burn Christmas cds for the adults. For neighbors and my oldest son's specialists, I'll make home-baked goods and take them to them (cookies or bread and jam or cinnamon rolls, etc).

So it's a hodge-podge of homemade gifts and store-bought. I do not go over $6 per gift for outside family though! I can even find magazine subscriptions for friends for $4 a year (that with a nail polish or chocolate is nice). Even for nieces and nephews I don't go over $10 (usually I spend around 5.00 because I'll make their gift).

I typically don't feel guilty about it... it's the thought and spirit of giving.

yes. I have a love-hate relationship with buying for all the people on our list. I actually enjoy thinking up personalized gifts for my family and my kids, etc. But then DH comes from an enormous family and you never know if you'll see them at Christmas or not until the day before, so I'm scrambling to make sure at least the kids get something. I want more than anything to put the burden of buying for DH's family ON DH, but he'd go spend a couple hundred bucks on stupid stuff, so I do it grudgingly. How's that for Christmas spirit?

There are a few people I would LOVE to stop receiving gifts from, if you know what I mean. LOL!

Our list includes our 3 kids, my mom and dad, my sister's family of 4, a cousin and her kid, 3 grandmas, my boss, daycare, one teacher, and at LEAST 4 nieces and nephews on DH's side, sometimes more. it doesn't seem like much when I write it like that. But it's a ton of work to get it all together in the end.

Our family thing gets a little convoluted, though. We buy for our children, of course. We may or may not buy for each other. Hubby usually gets stuff for me and I usually don't get stuff for him other than a stocking full of treats (per his request on the other gifts, my insistence on the stocking at least). We buy for his parents and his sister. We do not buy for any of my family members. Every Christmas, our extended family (his cousins) have a Christmas Eve party. Now, they are all closely related (siblings and their families) and thus, buy for each individual sibling, brother/ sister-in-law, and niece/ nephew. They also all like to buy for our children, who are ten years younger than all of their own children. We simply cannot afford to buy presents for each and every individual here either, much as we would like to. We do buy family presents for each family and I am strongly considering doing cookie tins for each this year; though having done this before, I KNOW it is not a cost savings because I don't do basic boring sugar cookies. After all the ingredients are purchased, the cost is very similar to say a ten dollar box of candy per family. IF there were any polite way I could bow us out of the gift exchange entirely, I would try to do so; but I am certain that our family would still want to buy gifts for our kids and say that we didn't have to give anything. Then we'd feel like leeching grinches. So ours is really more of a token gift to each of them and hopefully, it has been enjoyed (it's generally something edible). We do really enjoy seeing them all at the party too.